FEDEX RACING EXPRESS FACTS
DICKIES 500 – TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

FEDEX RACING EXPRESS NOTES:
Express Notes: After fighting a loose car and dropping off the lead lap, Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx team found a way back to score a hard-earned eighth-place finish. The result moves Hamlin into third in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings, 65 points behind leader Matt Kenseth, with three races remaining.

Hamlin, FedEx Racing Team “Crew” Dallas-Area FedEx Kinko’s: Already known for their teamwork at the race track, Denny Hamlin and members of the #11 FedEx Racing team will show what they can do behind the counter of a Dallas-area FedEx Kinko’s on Wednesday, Nov.1. The crew will be busy making, packing and shipping gifts for patients at the Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. Hamlin also will join with representatives of FedEx to present Cook Children’s with a donation of $25,000. (For more information on the event please contact Jon Mason at the number below)

Local Patent Designs Special Texas Helmet for Hamlin: For the fifth race this season, Hamlin will wear a helmet designed especially for him by a patient from a local Children’s hospital. Alexis Hakalmazian, a 15-year old Keller student and patient at the Cook Children’s Medical Facility, designed the helmet named “Healing Hands Coming Together in Search of a Cure,” for Hamlin to wear for all Nextel Cup activity this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

“The opportunity to wear helmets designed by patients like Alexis means a lot to me and I know this whole team takes a lot of pride in racing out there for them,” said Hamlin. “A lot of these kids can’t make it to a race so we try to give them the next best thing and represent them at the track. Hopefully they feel like part of our team. Plus, these helmets always seem to bring me luck in races so I owe them a big thank you.”

Hamlin at Texas Motor Speedway: The Dickies 500 will be Hamlin’s third career start at Texas Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Nextel Cup car. Hamlin ran very well at Texas in the spring, qualifying eighth and finishing fourth for one of his six top-five finishes of the season. He made his debut at the track in November of 2005, the same weekend he was introduced as the driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2006. Hamlin followed up the announcement by taking the checkered flag in seventh after starting 14th, recording his third top-ten finish in only his fifth career Cup start.

Race Series Date Start Finish Laps
Samsung/Radio Shack 500 Nextel Cup April 9, 2006 8 4 334/334
Dickies 500 Nextel Cup Nov. 6, 2005 14 7 334/334

Texas Chassis JGR 121 & 140: The #11 FedEx Team will unload car JGR 121 at Texas this weekend. This car built its reputation by twice dominating the field at Pocono Raceway, leading 234 of a possible 400 laps, to give Hamlin his two career Cup wins. Most recently, Hamlin drove this car to 28th-place finish at Charlotte after getting caught in a lap-one wreck. Prior to that, Hamlin drove this car to an 18th-place finish at Kansas and to top-ten finishes at Indy, California, Las Vegas and Darlington. Back up car JGR 140 has one start this season, placing ninth at Dover in the second race of the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Hamlin on Texas: “This is a race we have been looking forward to from the beginning of the Chase. We have been here twice and been very good both times, including leading some laps here this spring. It was at Texas a year ago that I was named the driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet for 2006 and we celebrated by going out there, running really well and finishing fourth. I feel really comfortable at this track; I guess something about it just suits my style because I can’t say that about too many tracks that we have gone to during the Chase so far. We expect a lot this week. We are bringing a very good car, one that we know can win and it’s just a matter of putting together a complete race.”

2006 Points: Hamlin’s eighth-place finish at Atlanta gives the FedEx Racing team another boost in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings heading to Texas. Currently in third place, Hamlin currently trails leader Matt Kenseth by 65 points.

2006 Rookie Race: With three races remaining, Hamlin holds a 58-point lead (282-224) over Clint Bowyer in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. Hamlin has been the Raybestos Rookie of the Race award winner on 16 occasions this season.